Pinball games generally include an inclined playfield housed within a game cabinet and supporting a rolling ball (i.e., pinball). A plurality of play features are arranged on the playfield. A game player uses a pair of mechanical flippers mounted at one end of the playfield to propel the rolling ball at the various play features on the playfield to score points and control the play of the game. It is typical of most pinball game designs to provide a varying number of sensors or switches on the playfield that allow the game processor to detect the presence of the ball and award the player with a score for activating a particular switch or sequence of switches. Activation of the scoring switches is achieved by propelling the ball toward a particular scoring area of the playfield with one of the player-operated flippers.
As is the case for virtually all pinball game designs, the score that is awarded for activating a particular switch may not be as "valuable" to the player as the score that is awarded for activating a different switch. Also, during the play of a game, the score that is awarded for activating a particular switch at a particular time during that game may not be as "valuable" to the player as the score that is awarded for activating the same switch at a different time during that game. It is often important for pinball players to understand which scoring switches are more "valuable" at different times and to attempt to direct the ball toward these higher scoring areas when possible. The ability of players to learn to direct the ball toward high scoring areas on the playfield with high frequency is what classifies pinball as a game of skill.